


A New Princess In Town

by LumenInFusco



Category: Super Mario & Related Fandoms
Genre: Bowsette is the kind of name a cis person gives a trans person, Gen, Only she's not called Bowsette, because let's face it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-27
Updated: 2018-09-27
Packaged: 2019-07-18 09:56:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16116029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LumenInFusco/pseuds/LumenInFusco
Summary: Princess Daisy takes an old friend shopping for a new wardrobe to go with her new face.





	A New Princess In Town

      “Hey!” Daisy knocked on the changing room door. “You still okay in there? How does it look?”

      After some shuffling and indistinct muttering, the door finally opened. The occupant stood in the doorway: a woman perhaps a few years older than Daisy, muscular and bulky, with thick, fiery orange eyebrows arched over large, angular red eyes that were studying her own outfit. The deep violet tank top tented over her chest, tucked snugly into black denim shorts. Black mary-janes completed the ensemble, with white knee-high socks contrasting deeply tan skin of her legs.

      “They’re bunching at the crotch weird,” she said, tugging at the shorts.

      “Oh, they are not,” said Daisy, reaching to the side of her friend’s hips to straighten the shorts out. “You look freakin’ adorable!”

      “I’m not going for ‘adorable’,” she snarled.

      “Fine,” Daisy huffed. “You look hot and sexy, but in a totally casual low-effort kind of way.”

      She fidgeted with a lock of red hair where it ran between her golden crown and her left horn as her expression softened. “You really think so? I just feel so…ugh. This outfit is awful. Everything is awful. I hate this. I should have just stayed in my castle.”

      Daisy closed her eyes and nodded. “Alright, I know what’s going on. Go get changed.”

      As if on cue, the store clerk that had been helping them reappeared. “Is everything alright here?”

      Daisy smiled as she turned her attention to the clerk. “We’re fine, she just needs a break. Can you put all these on hold until we get back?”

      “Certainly. What’s the name?”

      “Ruby,” came the reply from the change room.

      “Ruby,” Daisy repeated.

      “Got it,” said the clerk.

      Ruby emerged from the change room wearing the ornate black dress with blue and white accents she had worn in.

      “Come on, girl,” said Daisy. “We need to get you some food.”

      Ruby only grunted in response.

* * *

      “Here we go: chili cheese dogs! The best cure for ‘I hate everything’-itis!” Daisy declared as she put the tray of food on the table between herself and Ruby.

      Ruby pensively lifted one of the four hot dogs in front of her. “…Thanks,” she finally muttered.

      “Sweetie, every woman goes through this. Clothes-shopping is hard!” Daisy took a big bite out of her food. “Mmf!” She swallowed. “I learned the secret of chili cheese dogs when I was sixteen.” She took another bite. “Momma never liked it, but screw her, these are freakin’ delicious.”

      Ruby still hadn’t bitten into her dog. “Not just for the hot dogs, I mean for all of this. For taking me on this shopping trip and…helping me.”

      “Hey, no sweat!” Daisy beamed. “But if you were so nervous about it, why didn’t you just get your royal tailor or something to make you some new clothes?”

      Ruby sneered a bit. “You ever see anyone wearing clothes in my kingdom?”

      Daisy put a finger to her chin as she thought. “Doesn’t Kamek wear a blue robe or something?”

      “He made that out of his old baby blanket.” Ruby finally took a bite. Her eyes widened after she chewed for a moment. “Oh. Oh wow.”

      “Right??” said Daisy, lightly swatting Ruby’s forearm. “I told you! The chili cheese dogs here are the BEST!”

      Ruby’s muscular shoulders sagged, tension leaving her entire body as she continued to eat. She sighed contentedly.

      “Peach always complains that they’re too spicy,” Daisy mused. “She eats them anyway, but she still complains.”

      “HA!” Ruby guffawed. “Spicy? These are savory at most. Peach always was…” Her voice suddenly trailed off.

      “Hm? What’s wrong?”

      “I just remembered how long it’s been since the last time I left my kingdom. I haven’t seen Peach or Mario or…uh…his brother for months.”

      “So I’m still the only one that knows, huh?” Daisy took a slurp of her soda.

      “Outside the kingdom, yes. And even inside the kingdom, it’s still only a few people.”

      “What about the kids?”

      “Just Roy. And…that was by accident.”

      “What happened?”

      Ruby put down her chili cheese dog and sighed deeply. “He was there when I found this thing,” she said, taking the crown off her head to look at it. “He was cheering me on when I was about to try it on in front of a mirror. ‘Do it, Dad! Show everyone what a real king looks like!’” She smiled, setting the crown on the table between them. “And then I did, and…then this happened.”

      Daisy leaned forward. “Bet that threw ‘im for a loop!”

      “He looked at me, very seriously, and just said ‘I won’t tell nobody’. I didn’t say anything, I just watched him leave and then…just, stared at the mirror.”

      Daisy swallowed another bite. “What was it like?”

      “Well, it wasn’t like this. The first time I was blonde, blue-eyed, and skinny. I looked…” Ruby frowned. “I looked like Peach. And I was just, confused. I felt like I had to take it off immediately, but as soon as I did, I was back to the old me and…” She took a shaky breath.

      Daisy, sensing what was coming, reached over and put a hand on Ruby’s elbow. “Hey, hey, it’s okay!”

      Ruby continued. “I had a moment of clarity. My life flashed before my eyes, only now everything was different. All the times I kidnapped Peach, transforming the seven kings, painting over that island, reshaping the galaxy, I suddenly understood what it all _meant_ and how it all fit together and I…I…” She paused for a moment, and Daisy could see a subtle trembling in her clenched fist. “I was _furious!_ ” She pounded on the table to accentuate her point, causing the crown and the table’s other contents to bounce in the air slightly.

      Daisy withdrew her hand and furrowed her brow at Ruby. “Hey. Easy, girl.”

      Ruby raised her hands in front of her. “Right, right.” She exhaled slowly. “I put the crown back on and I felt…right. I wasn’t angry, or happy, or ashamed, or confused, just…right. As if I’d found something I stopped looking for a long time ago and completely forgot about.” Having calmed down, she ate a few bites of chili cheese dog in silence. “I kept myself barred in my chamber for a few days. I didn’t even think about taking the crown off. Soon, my skin and hair changed, and I started looking more like me and less like Peach. I figured that meant the change had become permanent.”

      Daisy picked up the crown and studied the rim. “Maybe not TOTALLY permanent. Whatever magic was put into this crown can definitely be reversed. Kitsune Flower magic always can.”

      Ruby snarled a little. “I knew about the Kitsune Flower that only grows in the Sarasaland royal gardens. That’s what made me so furious at that moment, knowing that I could have…” her voice lowered to being barely audible to Daisy. “I could have done this a long time ago.” She raised her voice again. “I could have just invaded Sarasaland and taken the flowers for myself.”

      Daisy laughed as she set the crown down again. “You could have _tried!_ ” she corrected. “Our kingdom’s defenses are a billion times stronger than what they got over at Mushroom Kingdom, and it’s been that way ever since that whole thing with Tatanga.” She finished the last bite of her meal. “Besides, there’s no need for that. We have no problems sharing the flowers’ magic with anyone, so long as they ask nicely. We’re just not supposed to talk about it around foreigners. Daddy says it would ‘create a diplomatic incident’,” she said with mocking affectation. She flicked at the crown. “When I’m queen, that’s gonna be the first thing that gets changed. Who cares if it’s banned in all the other kingdoms? The sooner they see how many people want these flowers, the sooner they’ll realize how stupid they’re all being.

      Ruby hunched her shoulders. “Well, obviously the ban will be reversed in the Koopa Kingdom. My great-grandfather isn’t getting any deader.” She put the crown back atop her head, nestled between her horns.

      “So when do you think you’ll finally tell all the others?”

      Ruby sighed. “I don’t know.”

      “They’re gonna find out sooner or later. And I’ll betcha anything it’ll go over super well. They’re a nice bunch of people! And they already like you. Heck, you go to more of Mario’s parties and sports things than I do!”

      Ruby looked off to the side. “I’m not always invited. Sometimes I just crash.”

      “And that’s what makes it _fun_!” Daisy gushed. “We like having you around, even if some people will never admit it.”

      Ruby scratched at the back of her neck. “Do you really think Peach could ever…I mean, after everything I’ve…” she sobbed faintly, before covering it with a growl.

      Daisy leaned back in her seat. “Look around you. Look at all these people everywhere. Before, they’d all be running and screaming if you came to town. And you’d have right there in the thick of it, breathing fire and shouting about conquering everybody or whatever. But that’s not what they see anymore. And that’s not gonna be what Peach sees anymore either.”

      Ruby grunted angrily as she wiped tears away from her eyes. “I still have to tell the rest of my kids.”

      “Be sure to tell Bowser Junior that he’s just ‘Bowser’ now,” Daisy offered helpfully.

      “…Hm. You’re right. I never thought about that.” Ruby looked down at the table, now filled with empty cups and dirty paper plates, and started fidgeting with her hair again. Finally, she looked up at Daisy again. “Thank you. I mean it. You’ve been a great help in all this.”

      “No problem!” Daisy chirped, rising to her feet. “Now what say we get some frozen yogurt and then go back for those shorts?”

      Ruby stood to meet her friend. “Do they still have hot pepper flavor?”

      “I think so! And if they don’t you can still breathe fire on it, right?”

      “That’s…not how it works.”

* * *

 

      A few days later, Daisy was brushing her hair at her vanity when an envelope slid underneath her chamber door, bearing the Koopa Royal Family crest. She opened it to find a photo of Ruby, laughing as her kids surrounded her and climbed on her shoulders and head.

      She turned the photograph over. There, she saw signatures of various colors and writing styles of all the kids: Iggy, Larry, Wendy, Ludwig, Lemmy, Morton, and Bowser with (not Jr.) written beside it.

      Underneath, in especially neat cursive letters, was a message.

_Thank you for helping my mom find herself._

_-Roy_

      Daisy smiled. She knew one royal alchemist whose work on that crown had earned her a nice bonus this month.

The End

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y'all, hope I'm not too late to jump in on this Bowsette craze before everyone's sick of it!
> 
> This story has a bit of a different vibe from the other Bowsette stories out there that I've seen.


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